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The Fine Arts Collection is a
non-circulating research resource of more than 125,000 titles (not including bound
periodicals, multiple-volume works and unbound catalogs). The Fine Arts Department is also
responsible for servicing special collections that document art, architecture and the
decorative arts with special focus on Boston and New England.

The circulating collection of fine arts books may be found on the second floor of the
General Library in the Johnson building. Unlike many research collections of comparable
size or depth in museums or academic institutions, the Fine Arts Collection is not defined
by the demands of specific curricula or by the research needs of the staff of a parent
organization or its special clientele.

Rather, as a research collection within a public library, the Fine Arts Department follows
broad objectives in acquisitions, collecting as comprehensively as possible the materials
necessary for the study of all facets of art and art history, architecture and its
history, the decorative arts and crafts of all countries and periods.

The collection includes works of biography, criticism, history and philosophy of art, art
education, manuals on technique, journals and patternbooks, major studies of artists and
periods, catalogues raisonnes, oeuvres catalogues, collectors' manuals and many valuable
early imprints, as well as major art indexes and abstracts, encyclopedias, dictionaries,
bibliographies and auction records.

The Library receives on standing order basis new publications from 400 American
publishers, including virtually all university presses, and from approximately 30 foreign
countries. The Fine Arts staff does extensive bibliographic searching and ordering of
additional materials from foreign national bibliographies, publishers' trade publications,
and rare book dealers. Approximately 1,700-2,000 titles are added each year.

The Department receives approximately 270 periodical titles but it should be noted that
the Library subscribes to a great many art- and architecture- related journals on
photography, graphic arts, archaeology, costume, crafts, industrial and interior design
which do not classify on "N" in the Library of Congress classification scheme,
and therefore are not held in the Fine Arts Department.

Titles in the Fine Arts Collection are listed in the Library's Research Library catalog
but that catalog in its online version only reflects cataloging since 1974. Materials
acquired and processed before 1974 are listed in the microfiche version of the Boston
Public Library Research Library Catalog.

Special Collections
and Indexes:

Art in the Boston Public Library
is a card index by artist, subject and title, to the paintings, sculptures and decorative
art in the library's collection. Information relating to medium, size, date of execution,
date of presentation to the BPL, donor, location, as well as a listing of references to
other sources, is often provided.

The Boston Architecture Reference File is a card index of references to written
descriptions, critiques, histories, illustrations, renderings and plans of Boston
buildings and their architects. Most references are to published sources, although they
may refer to original photographs, architectural drawings and other unpublished materials
in the collections of this and other libraries.

The Boston Picture File consists of mounted and unmounted photographs and clippings
about Boston buildings, parks, monuments, streets, etc. Material in this file has been
indexed in the Boston Architecture Reference File. A postcard collection of c. 1,500 items
depicting Boston buildings is also part of this pictorial archive.

The Boston Art Archives/New England Art Information File was begun in 1885 as a
vertical file of ephemera on Boston artists. Over the years it has expanded in coverage of
New England artists, as well as contemporary artists across the country who are not
adequately covered in reference sources. Types of materials included in this file are:
exhibition announcements, calendars of events, gallery/organization newsletters, press
releases, reviews of exhibitions, checklists and small exhibition catalogs, obituaries,
illustrations, gallery histories, bibliographies on artists, and miscellaneous
biographical information. This index has also absorbed the exhibition record of individual
artists at shows of the Boston Society of Arts and Crafts, the Boston Society of
Independent Artists, and the Boston Art Club.

The Archives of American Art Microfilm Collection has been on deposit at the Boston
Public Library since 1994 and is updated with a copy of each new microfilm roll produced
by the Archives.